Off Duty, Military Health and Fitness - Marine Corps Times

Not on MySpace? There are other memorial options

Many of those who knew Marine Sgt. Adam Cann before he was killed a year ago will never be able to honor him on his MySpace profile page.

A MySpace user must approve fellow users as “friends” before they can post comments. As of February, 13 people were listed as friends on Cann’s page.

Many of Cann’s friends and loved ones, including his brothers, didn’t have MySpace accounts before he died, according to childhood friend Lauren Hancock.

They can view his page and read the comments like any other visitor, but they can’t post messages.

Some MySpace users have overcome this hurdle by creating tribute profiles for their fallen friends. A Big Bear High School, Calif., classmate of Marine 1st Lt. Jared Landaker created a tribute profile, saying it was the least he could do after Landaker “risked everything,” according to another of Landaker’s childhood friends, Shannon Meketarian.

Friends of Marine Cpl. Jennifer Parcell created a tribute group on MySpace, which had 41 members within its first 10 days.

While these tribute pages are a popular but unconventional use of MySpace, other Web sites were designed specifically with memorials in mind:

• Fallen Heroes Memorial

• Legacy.com

• Marine Parents

• Togetherweserved.com

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